June Planning Meeting

Here are the draft minutes of our June 19th planning meeting, to be formalized in July.

Start Time 7:34Pm, June 19th, 2008

Present: Ruth Pikitch, Celeste Leibowitz, Bruce Leibowitz, Jason Leibowitz, Tony Severo, Annette Bernstein, Antionette Wagnerman, Adriana Baker, Dorothy Wood, Maureen Egginton, Remi Gay

1. Go Around

1.a. Agenda
We decided to add a discussion of last month's decision to collect $25 in seed money from our "core group" to the agenda.

2. Seed Money. Last month we decided that the Core Group would pay $25 Dollars per person as seed money for BHC. How we should do this?Some favored giving in their checks at the meeting. Another suggestion was to collect the money at the July 4th party at the Severo's. There was some discussion of how people will become members and whether the core group and/or new people need to go through a training process.

Resolution 1. Those present at the planning meeting of June 19, 2008 agreed to use the July 4th gathering to invite the community to contribute seed money in the amount of $25 dollars per person to assist in the operation of BHC.

Resolution 1 passed by Consensus.

Resolution 2. Those present at the planning meeting of June 19, 2008 agreed to open a checking account for BHC as a DBA or a regular checking account with Ruth Pikitch and Bruce Leibowitz as signatories.

Resolution 2 passed by Consensus.

3. Incorporation Task Force Update: Tony Severo gave the report on the work of the incorporation task force. He displayed a listing of tax exempt entities as recognized under the IRS in its Section 501. Of these, the typical 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is probably the best known. This list can be found at Types of Tax-Exempt Organizations

Would the mission statement as written by the Mission Statement Task Force fit with the NY state law on incorporating as a religion under Article 10 (as outlined for us last August by Kurt Johnson)? A suggestion was made to add the word "spiritual" in either of two places as our quest truly is a spiritual one.The group of meeting attendees has asked Tony Severo to ask Peter Murphy about Religious incorporation based on the current mission statement.

Resolution 3. Those present at the planning meeting of June 19, 2008 agreed to approve the following misson statement:

The Brooklyn Humanist Community meets to support the (spiritual) quest for a meaningful life through reflection, education, social action and the arts.

We aspire to make the world a kinder place and a society that respects the individual and that cultivates the best in everyone.

Some of us consider the search for a philosophy of life as great a commitment as those in traditional religions. Others of us consider the search itself enough.

Whatever your orientation, you are welcome to join us.

Passed by Consensus.

4. Outreach (brainstorming)
Newsletter: Remi has offered to produce a newsletter.
Invite a friend
Flyers: Maureen has offered to create a brand for us and a template to use when creating flyers for our upcoming events. We should provide publicity for guest speakers
Post flyers in libraries
Join Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and have access to their website and after-hours events
Ads and billboards
Celeste invites everyone to write comments and original reports to the BHC blog at Brooklyn Humanist Community .

5. Community or Charitable projects (brainstorming).
Contact everyone with what you do.
Donate things to a charity in the name of BHC.
Get sponsorship for our activities.
Antoinette mentions a company that does these sponsorships. (Mariano's?)
Annette suggests we sell things and send the proceeds to the women's shelter at the Armory, also that some volunteers work with sorting the clothing there.
We could be spiritual counselors for those who indicate no religion at intake to nursing homes. (Suggested by Antoinette).
Rent a table at a street fair, sell items and donate the money to a charity.
Jason suggests that some people join him in volunteering at Seaside Therapeutic Riding.
Without taking it to a formal resolution, we agreed to come up with one or two projects per year that we would commit to work on as a group, possibly one local project and one global one. Celeste as communications point person was asked to send out an email asking who will do what, in order to get this organized and off the ground.
We might ask everyone to work on these projects no less than 10-20 hours a year.
Adriana suggests microloans similar to the work of the "Trickle Up" foundation, and agrees to bring in a proposal on how to go about doing this.
Suggestion: donate coats or other items in the BHC's name in order to generate publicity.
Bruce suggests hands on work, possibly with the homeless.
Another suggestion was made to help brain-injured soldiers from the Iraq war.

6. Next Planning Meeting will take place on July 17, 2008, at Ruth P.'s apartment, 6:30 PM. We will discuss more about the Incorporation issue and devote most of the meeting to Social Action. Jason L. will preside.

7. Closing go around

Meeting adjourned at 9:56 PM.
Minutes by Jason L., revised by Celeste L.